Abstract
By its very nature, history is contingent. Historians know al! loo well that the judgements, indeed orthodoxies, of one generation will be challenged in the next. This is certainly true of historiography. It is also the case that, even in the present generation, different scholars will often have sharply contrasting views on what should be studied and how it should be approached. They also analyse current and recent trends differently. What is significant, central and/or welcome to one historian might be unimportant, marginal and unwelcome to another. These differences are often expressed overtly in historical controversies and sometimes covertly in publication strategics of journals and publishers, in course requirements and in academic patronage. Indeed, this book has been written in a fruitful interchange of views with important differences between the two authors: for example, over the nature of positivism; the validity of ‘old-fashioned’ political history; and the significance of Karl Marx and E. P. Thompson. This is to the good. It is wrong to believe that there is only one approach or, indeed, that there is an unquestionably correct approach. Such an authoritarian schema is unwelcome. History is most valuable if it inculcates a sense of humane scepticism (not cynicism; about explanatory models and, indeed, questions our very ability to understand the past and thus our own world.
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© 1997 Jeremy Black and Donald M. MacRaild
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Black, J., MacRaild, D.M. (1997). Afterword. In: Studying History. How to Study. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14396-2_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14396-2_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-68795-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-14396-2
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